Catacomb (video game)
| Catacomb | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Softdisk |
| Publisher(s) | Softdisk |
| Director(s) | Tom Hall |
| Designer(s) | John Carmack John Romero |
| Programmer(s) | John Carmack |
| Artist(s) | Adrian Carmack |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | 1990 |
| Genre(s) | Shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Catacomb is a 2-D top-down third-person shooter developed and published by Softdisk. It was originally created for the Apple II, and later ported to IBM PC compatibles. It supports EGA and CGA graphics. Catacomb was programmed by John Carmack, who would later work on successful games such as Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. The fast action and the ability to strafe in Catacomb foreshadow Carmack's later work. The enemy movement code in Wolfenstein 3D is based on code from Catacomb.
Catacomb was followed by multiple sequels, which were all initially published by Softdisk. The DOS game The Catacomb and the three Apple II games Sylvan Idyll, Ether Quest and Sand Trap are also top-down third-person shooters. Additionally, the Catacomb series includes four first-person shooters for DOS: Catacomb 3-D, Catacomb Abyss, Catacomb Armageddon and Catacomb Apocalypse.
In March 2013, Catacomb, as well as its sequels The Catacomb and the Catacomb 3-D, were published on GOG.com as part of the Catacombs Pack. The source code to the game was released by Flat Rock Software in June 2014 under GNU GPL-2.0-or-later in a manner similar to those done by id Software and partners.